Case Number 10853: Small Claims Court

UNDISPUTED II: LAST MAN STANDING

The Charge

Wrongly accused. Unjustly imprisoned. Now he's fighting back.

The Case

Well, New Line is the undisputed king of unrelated sequels. Undisputed II:
Last Man Standing is a prison fighting movie featuring a character with the
same name as but little resemblance to a character played by Ving Rhames in
Undisputed. While there are a few passing references to the original
film, that is as close as we get to continuity.

George Chambers (Michael Jai White, Spawn) was once a heavyweight
champion, but he now finds himself starring in Russian vodka commercials. He's
not happy about the situation. Soon he's even less happy as he is framed for
trafficking drugs and sent to a rough Russian prison. Turns out that this prison
has a hardcore Russian fighter named Uri Boyka (Scott Adkins, Pit
Fighter), and the Russian mob really wants the two to fight to liven up
their gambling enterprise. Chambers doesn't want to fight, though, and it's
going to take some convincing.

Undisputed II: Last Man Standing is an unnecessarily complicated
film. If the mob/government wants to run a televised boxing league, why run it
in a prison? There's no benefit, and the drawbacks are considerable. If Chambers
is so down and out that he's doing Russian TV commercials, isn't there an easier
way to get him to fight than to create some crazy, complex kidnapping scheme?
Why not, you know, offer him some cash? As each plot twist unfolds, the
situation becomes more complicated. One would think the prison fighting genre
would thrive on simplicity, but this film is a total head-scratcher.

Of course, you aren't reading this review because you want to know about the
plot. You want to know if the film delivers on bone-crunching, head-bashing,
no-holds-barred action. On this front, there is good and bad news. The fights
between Chambers and Boyka are impressive, as both men are solid fighters and
decent actors. The cinematography is some of the best fight filming I've seen in
a while, too, which keeps the adrenaline high during those fights.
Unfortunately, there are only a couple such scenes. Most of the other action
consists of these two men beating the snot out of weaklings to show how tough
they are. These fights are short, and not nearly so well filmed. With so much
talent involved, I'm not sure why there isn't more action.

The same can be said about the acting. Michael Jai White isn't a
particularly gifted actor, but he is certainly convincing as a conceited former
heavyweight champion. He delivers a high-energy, aggressive performance, which
is exactly what's needed. The pleasant surprise here is the British Scott
Adkins, who delivers a subtle and wholly convincing turn as the Russian prison
fight king. He has a great physical presence, but also shows some real acting
chops. If he plays his cards right, we could be seeing Adkins in a number of
action roles soon, in much higher profile films than this. I know I'll be
watching for him in The Bourne Ultimatum now, even if he's only in a
scene or two. The rest of the cast sinks into the background, none of the other
characters are memorable in the least.

Ultimately, I'm not sure why this is a sequel at all. It feels like the
script has been stretched and pulled to force it into the same structure as the
original film. That may explain some of the odd plot complications (and I do
understand that sequels to successful films have a better chance to make money).
That said, I think there was quite a bit of talent involved in this production
-- enough that this could have been crafted into a unique little cult classic.
Instead, New Line has once again gone the cheap route, and paid the price for
not taking a chance. Still, serious martial arts fans will find enough here to
make it worth watching once, which is more than I thought I'd be saying in the
defense of Undisputed II: Last Man Standing.

The disc has also been well produced. The video transfer looks a bit washed
out, but the black levels are strong and I didn't notice any digital artifacts.
The sound transfer is less impressive, trapped mostly in the front channels.
Still, it's only been the past few years that we've seen low budget sequels with
this kind of technical quality. There are few extras on the disc, just a sparse
commentary track with director Isaac Florentine (Special Forces), Michael
Jai White, and Scott Adkins and a brief featurette. Neither are reasons to buy
the disc.

To be certain, Undisputed II: Last Man Standing isn't high art. It
isn't even low art. It is better than I expected, and far better than a lot of
the direct-to-video martial arts films that flood the video store shelves. If
you are a fan of fight movies, it's worth a watch. Just be prepared to fast
forward a few scenes to get to the excellent fights. Beyond that, it's a
jumbled, silly, mess of a film.

Since there's no reason for Chambers to be in prison, I'm going to let this
one off with a warning. It's not really that guilty anyway.